The present invention relates to the field of delivering medication to patients, more particularly to an integrated system for maximizing patient safety and caregiver productivity for medication delivery.
Modern medical care often involves the use of medical pump devices to deliver fluids and/or fluid medicine to patients. Medical pumps permit the controlled delivery of fluids to a patient, and such pumps have largely replaced gravity flow systems, primarily due to the pump's much greater accuracy in delivery rates and dosages, and due to the possibility for flexible yet controlled delivery schedules. However, modern medical devices, including medical pumps, can be complicated and time-consuming for caregivers to program. Medical facilities struggle to provide appropriate caregiver staffing levels and training while holding down the cost of medical care. Human errors in pump programming and other medication errors can have adverse or even deadly consequences for the patient. Medication errors, which are sometimes referred to as adverse drug events (ADE), can increase the length of hospital stay and the cost of medical care for the patients involved or their healthcare insurance carrier.
Therefore, a principal objective of this invention is to provide an integrated medication management system that is flexible, reduces the risks of medication error, improves patient safety, and improves caregiver productivity.
These and other objectives will be apparent to those skilled in the art.